The Peace Bench

Larry built a garden bench this weekend and it's so pretty, I don't want to put it in the garden!  I just love it.  

I didn't get any before pictures yesterday but here's one of him sanding it today.

And painting it...

And here's the finished product!  It's five feet wide, wide enough for me, him and Banjo or Tabbie, if he wants to.  Now I just gotta find us a cushion or some pillows and we'll be all set.

4th of July Tea Cart!

I put together this little July 4th tea cart last week.  I love how it turned out!

Larry found this old political button at The Big Peach in Byron Friday.  It's from the 60's, reminiscent of Eisenhower's I Like Ike campaign.  We liked its simple hippie philosophy.  :)

Independence Day Weekend

We were so happy to have Juan, Rhiana, Elizabeth and Emma with us for July 4th!  They came down yesterday after stopping by the hospital to see Charlie, who is doing soooo good!  She's breathing on her own and off the nasal cannula so she celebrated her very own Independence Day!  Yay, Charlie!!  She's going to start trying to nurse tomorrow and we're very excited about that.

Since July 1st was Emma's birthday and she wanted a Mickey Mouse party, Larry and I threw her a Mickey Mouse luau!  I had so much fun last week putting together decorations and making plans and everything turned out so cute!!

I didn't make the cake.  Publix made the cake.  :)  This is the only Mickey Mouse cake that they have permission to make and this is where I got the luau idea.  I was skeptical at first but I was able to find so many cute things that I was really, really happy with it and I really, really got into it, too!

I got this idea for the punch on Pinterest.  It was soooooo adorable and the punch was awesome.  It's Blue Hawaiian punch and lemonade.  That's it.  Equal parts.  Awesome.

I love the beach, I love pink flamingos so I was ALLLLLL over this tropical, beachy luau theme!!  Larry and I decorated the backyard with flamingos, a toucan, fishies, hibiscus garland, paper lanterns, beach balls, a hula girl, two coconut monkeys and we even got a pineapple and two coconuts to put on the table.  We had Mickey Mouse ears hats, noisemakers and we all had leis to wear.

It poured down rain most of the day yesterday but that didn't stop Larry from grilling those hamburgers!

And here's our sweet Emma.  She was so excited about her Mickey party and that made all the running around, planning and scheming that I had to do last week so very worth it.  Just look at that face.

Since real fireworks became legal in Georgia July 1st, we had an incredible show in our neighborhood once the sun went down.  We bought some sparklers and things to do with the girls and they just had the best time lighting those with PawPaw.
 

Today, our sweet neighbor, Randy, let us borrow his pool and really all it did for ME was convince me that we have to have a pool.  It was just too much fun!  Look at Larry jumping off the diving board!

 

We had the juiciest, sweetest watermelon and pineapple today.  The coconuts were a little past their prime but that pineapple mmmmmmore than made up for it.  Here's Larry teaching Elizabeth how to cut watermelon with a machete.

 
I made bacon-wrapped Oreos last night and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast this morning.  We had birthday cake, ice cream, hamburgers, a summer luau, some pool time, awesome fireworks, sweet juicy summer fruit, the girls picked a cucumber and a bell pepper from our garden and our Charlie Girl is getting stronger every day. 

We are so blessed.

A Happy 4th!

We have had a wonderful 4th of July!!  We went to a few yard sales and an antique shop this morning (where I picked up a vintage 1960 Raggedy Ann book for $10!) then Larry grilled barbecue ribs and corn on the cob.  We sat outside on the deck and just had a feast!  I made potato salad, pickled cucumbers and homemade lemonade.  And we had the lemon cake for dessert (and here's a tip...use whole eggs if you make that cake.  The whites alone caused it to be a little dry.  Oh well.  We'll know next time!)  Then we took a long nap, watched Forrest Gump, lit a few fireworks of our own in the backyard and wrapped up the day watching A Capitol Fourth on GPTV.
 

Sunday Cake (on a Thursday!)

I made this week's Sunday Cake last night for our July 4th celebratin' and stuff.  I wanted something patriotic and I chose this lemon cake with lemon curd filling, butter cream icing with a raspberry blueberry flag!

4th of July Lemon Cake

3 cups cake flour

2 cups sugar

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of butter at room temperature

1 1/3 cups milk

5 egg whites (but I recommend using the entire egg...whites only caused the cake to be a little dry)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9 inch can pans with nonstick spray.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend well.  Add the butter and 1 cup of the milk and mix to blend. Raise the mixer speed to medium and beat until the batter is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.   In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites with the vanilla extract and the remaining 1/3 cup milk.   Add this to the batter in 2 or 3 additions, scraping down the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate. 

Bake for thirty minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Vanilla Butter Cream Icing

5 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 sticks of butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Place the egg whites in the clean bowl and mix on low speed until foamy.  Sprinkle in 6 tablespoons of the sugar and beat on high speed to medium peaks (the whites should be smooth, full and shiny and the peaks should curl a little).

Combine the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium high heat, stirring briefly to dissolve the sugar. Continue to cook just until the mixture comes to a rolling boil.

Immediately remove the syrup from the heat, turn the mixer onto medium-high speed, and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a steady stream, being very careful not to let the syrup hit the whisk.

Reduce the speed to medium and continue whisking until the whites are barely warm, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the butter 1 Tbs. at a time. Add the vanilla and continue beating until the frosting is smooth and creamy.

Lemon Curd Filling

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons finely chopped or grated lemon zest

3 large eggs

4 large egg yolks

3/4 cups lemon juice

8 tablespoons, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Fill a medium saucepan with about 2 inches of water and bring to a simmer. Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse for about one minute. Combine the lemon sugar, eggs and egg yolks in a medium heatproof bowl such as a stainless steel mixing bowl and whisk together for 30 seconds. Place the bowl over the simmering water and immediately begin whisking and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon juice and continue to cook and stir with a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom of the bowl, until the curd has thickened and reached a temperature of 160 degrees.

Rinse and dry the bowl of your food processor. Using a mesh strainer, strain the curd into the food processor bowl. Pulse the food processor while you add the butter a piece at a time, until the texture is homogenous. Transfer the curd to a container with a lid and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the lemon curd. Allow the curd to cool completely and then place the lid on your container and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours or up to one week.

Place the blueberries and raspberries on the top of the cake in a flag pattern, fill in with icing stripes, pipe the stars right over the blueberries. Garnish the bottom border with more fruit if you want. 

It's definitely a labor of love, that's for sure!  Happy 4th, y'all!!

Happy Birthday, America!

On the 238th anniversary of our nation's independence, her birthday, Larry and I came up with a few things that we are grateful to be able to enjoy in this country.  Sports, sweet tea, music, the freedom to worship the Lord that we love.  

Yeah, she has her problems but we wouldn't trade her for anything in the world.  She's in pretty good shape for the shape she's in.

Skillet chocolate chip cookie

I saw this on Pinterest last week and I could not wait to try it!  And since it's pouring rain again today on the 4th of July (we have had the wettest summer ever!) and we're pretty much stuck inside, I decided I'd bake this cookie.

I used the recipe linked to the Pinterest picture, made up the dough, pressed it into my cast iron skillet and baked it at 325 for 25 minutes.  I had to cut the heat and add to the time a little because my oven is 26 years old and she tends to have hot flashes.  I know the feeling.  



And here's how it looks when it's done!!  I put some Blue Bell strawberry ice cream on top and it was pretty dang amazing.  

Happy 4th, y'all!!

Happy 4th!

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?

Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?

And we'll be free some day soon, 
and it's gonna be one day...

No more kings!

A little Schoolhouse Rock to remind of us of how we came to this day.

I think it's really funny that next week, we'll all be oooohing and ahhhhing over Prince William and his bride as they continue their North American tour down into our beloved country.  The very people we fought to get away from!  No more kings!!  Ha!  Ain't freedom grand?

Happy Birthday, America!!  

235 years old and girl, you still lookin' good!!

Let Freedom Ring!